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It didn't take much to remind goalie Anthony Stolarz of the Flyers' mostly fruitless history between the pipes.

After all, the Jackson, New Jersey, native grew up idolizing longtime Devils goalie Martin Brodeur, so he naturally had half an eye on the division-rival Flyers.

The 2012 second-round pick is eager to advance his career to the next level and hopefully be a mainstay in the net like Brodeur was.

Stolarz, who played well in the Ontario Hockey League last season, is hoping he'll be the one to break the Flyers' streak. The team hasn't drafted a goalie that played more than one NHL game for them since Roman Cechmanek, who was selected 14 years ago.

"It really doesn't matter because every goalie is different and everyone develops at their own pace," Stolarz said. "Coming in and being homegrown and coming up through the ranks and hopefully one day playing for the Flyers, I think that would make things even sweeter for me. It's an organization I want to play for and being so close to home, playing for pretty much the closest team to my house. That would be fantastic."

Well, first things first.

The best-case scenario for next season would be Stolarz beating free-agent signee Rob Zepp for the starting job for the American Hockey League's Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

"That's my goal," Stolarz said. "Obviously I want to play at the highest level possible and going into training camp make the decision difficult for the organization. You want to give it your all and play your best."

That's something he won't be able to do for a while. Stolarz had hip surgery about five weeks, according to general manager Ron Hextall.

Hextall, the best goalie the Flyers have drafted since Pelle Lindbergh in 1979, isn't concerned about the surgery even though it will likely keep Stolarz off the ice until the end of July.

"It just happened over time, like a typical goalie," Hextall said. "It was a simple hip and he had a cleanup. That's pretty much it. There's no red flag."

"I think that's very dangerous because then you get into the training camp and you've already got your mind set," Murray said. "You're just enjoying your time with the kids and watching them and see them execute the fundamentals of the game."

Stolarz, 20, had a 2.52 goals-against average and .926 save percentage in 35 games for the London Knights this season, a campaign that was cut short when his leg got sliced by an opponent's skate in January, needing 55 stitches to repair. The feisty goalie was also suspended eight games in the playoffs for slashing New York Islanders prospect Joshua Ho-Sang in the head.

Murray watched all that from afar, but the jump from junior hockey to the AHL is perhaps the biggest a prospect endures.

"This is gonna be his first step into pro hockey," Murray said. "Everybody is coming in on a level playing field now. It doesn't matter if you're a first-round pick or seventh-round pick. You're coming out and you have to earn your right to play the game and Stolarz is a young guy with talent, a big man – which seems to be the way to go in the goaltending position today. He's got that covered. Now you take it from there and make your game happen."

It would have been nice for Stolarz if he could have gotten more on-ice quality time with Flyers goalie coach Jeff Reese, who has been in constant contact with the goalie since he was drafted.

"The way my game has matured and grown over the last two years, I attribute a lot of that to him," Stolarz said. "He's really helped me adjust to give myself the best chance to succeed. We've worked on a lot of things to get to this point and there's a lot of room for improvement."

If he makes those improvements and stays on pace in his development, in a few years he'll be the first goalie drafted by the Flyers to play in the NHL since Joacim Eriksson (drafted in 2008).

"For me, this year it's just going out there and earning my spot," Stolarz said. "Nothing is going to be guaranteed or be handed to me. I'm going to have to go out there and earn my spot."